US sniper victim No 18 (ANOTHER DC SNIPER VICTIM?)

The Sun ^ | November 5, 2002 | Brian Flynn

[MadIvan]

THE laptop computer found in the Washington snipers’ car was last night feared to belong to an EIGHTEENTH victim.

The owner is believed to be a restaurant boss shot a month before John Williams, 41, and Lee Malvo, 17, launched their killing spree.

Victim Paul LaRuffa, 55, was blasted six times at close range.

He was left fighting for life, but amazingly survived the ambush outside his diner in Clinton, Baltimore.

The gunmen nicked his Sony laptop — the same make as one discovered in the blue sedan the thriller killers used for their reign of terror around America’s capital.

Paul was yesterday waiting for police to confirm if the computer was his. He shuddered: “It’s frustrating. I wish somebody would tell me, ‘Yes, it’s yours’ or, ‘No, it’s not yours’.”

He was shot close to where Williams’ ex-wife Mildred lives with their three children. The gun was the same calibre as one used by the snipers.

In 22 days they murdered ten and wounded three in Washington, its suburbs and surrounding areas.

Police have already linked at least four other shootings. Williams and Malvo face the death penalty.

[MadIvan]

I haven't seen anything about this posted on here, so I thought it might be interesting to you.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Pretty wild!

[Cicero]

More explanations of where they got their money and stuff. It looks more and more to me that these guys were free-lancers, joining the Islamic crusade on their own hook. Which is not to say that they weren't influenced by Black Muslims, Muslim recruiters, and the like. But it looks like a case of "black rage" and entitlement turning to Islam as a congenial sort of religion to express these feelings.

That is, of course, a great danger here, in addition to the more organized movements. Chuck Colson has written about the dangers of Muslim agents recruiting angry blacks in prison. I trust they are thinking twice now about hiring Muslim prison chaplains.

[Thisiswhoweare]

I remember hearing the report when the Synagoge (sp?) was "shot up" in WA, one of the missing items was a laptop computer. Guess they hawked it at a pawn shop for money.
Or gave it to their contact to keep in touch.

[JulieRNR21]

Victim Paul LaRuffa, 55, was blasted six times at close range. He was left fighting for life, but amazingly survived the ambush outside his diner in Clinton, Baltimore.

A miracle this man survived....God Bless Him!

[Moosilauke]

A racist article. The man's last name is Muhammad. Why do they insist on referring to him by his slave name?

[VOA]

Muslim Is The Religion Of Peace, Inc.

As I tell my stunned, open-mouthed liberal colleagues, I have started to believe in the
real power of Islam.
I ask them (rhetorically), what other religion could create serial killers out of
two people who are not:
male, white, Southern, and poorly educated?

That there Islam is some powerful religion, yessiree.

[Future Useless Eater]

Two other little-reported details...

• September 15 - Clinton MD, Looks like our shooters might have done yet another robbery shooting... similar M.O. Wait for a small business to close, and kill or attempt to kill the owner taking his cash to the bank. This was Brandywine Liquors. The victim lived because the gun was a small caliber handgun. Probably the .22 handgun found in Montgomery AL after the Sept 21 shooting.
• A WEEK before they bought the sniper-mobile (blue Chevrolet Caprice) the pair was 3000 miles away, in Tacoma Washington, shopping for a car with a REALLY BIG TRUNK.

  late august 2002 - Tacoma, Wash. - Late THIS summer, just before school started, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo showed up at Todd Paulson's auto repair shop in Tacoma, Wash., Muhammad wanted to buy a certain 1965 white Lincoln Continental in good condition. Muhammad seemed interested in only one thing. "He wanted to know how big the trunk was" For three days, Muhammad and Malvo dropped by but, at $2,500, finally concluded the car was out of reach. Within days, they would choose a car on the other side of the country for $250 and convert its big trunk into a sniper's lair.

[Future Useless Eater]

It seems pretty obvious that Maryland has declared a news blackout until the election is over.

Just the opposite of what they would have done if shooters were AWG (Angry White Guys)

[FreedomPoster]

This guy was just on FNC on Greta's shown, not 10 minutes ago. He's asked if it was his laptop, hasn't gotten a straight answer is what I heard.

[FreedomPoster]

shownshow

[alaskanfan]

So how many bullets do they have from this bushmaster so far?

Even if all they have are fragments, it seems the miracle of ballistic fingerprinting could tie all of these shooting together. < /sarcasm >

Clearing up cases?

[cherry]

you see, I want to know about that 22 cal. gun.....

the Short family was executed by a 22....that was in Virginia....

there was also another freak incident where two adults...man and woman...were gunned down on a roadside somewhere in Virginia.....that happened a little after the Short murders....but I will be damned if I know where to reaserch tht.....it seems to have dissappeared off the radar.....

[rllngrk33]

Clinton MD, Looks like our shooters might have done yet another robbery shooting... similar M.O. Wait for a small business to close, and kill or attempt to kill the owner taking his cash to the bank. This was Brandywine Liquors.

This is too close to home for me.

Can anyone tell me where Brandywine Liquors is? Is it the the store at Md. Route 5 and Brandywine Rd., the one in the shopping center off Md. Route 5 and Woodyard Rd., or B.K Miller's in Clinton? If it's any of these, I might just have to keep some loaded magazines handy.

[rllngrk33]

Clinton MD, Looks like our shooters might have done yet another robbery shooting... similar M.O. Wait for a small business to close, and kill or attempt to kill the owner taking his cash to the bank. This was Brandywine Liquors.

I just found out from my wife that the victim is the owner of a restaurant in Clinton that I've been buying carry out from for the last 15 years.

She saw the interview on FOX. I remember hearing that there had been a shooting at his place some time in September. I went in to order about a week after the shooting and saw his hand in a strange looking cast.

[countess]

I saw a photo of the front of the liquor store on t.v. earlier. It didn't look like B.K. Millers. It was a smaller place that I've never noticed before.

Too close to home for me, too.

[rllngrk33]

It was a smaller place that I've never noticed before.

It's on Stuart Lane off of Woodyard Road. Behind the Shell Station and McDonalds and across from the C13 MetroBus Stop.

[SicTransitGloriaMundi]

Are the media not able to tell the difference between a .22LR and a .223Rem? Or was this guy really shot six times at close range with an AR-15, and back at work the next week?

[Plutarch]

It is amazing how fast this story has vanished after it was discovered the perps don't fit a comfortable media template.

[Future Useless Eater]

you see, I want to know about that 22 cal. gun..... the Short family was executed by a 22....that was in Virginia....

I just got done reading about the Short family murders before answering this...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4277465.htm

I haven't looked for the VA roadside murders you mentioned yet. I do not know how Muhammad / Malvo travelled around before buying the Caprice, though at times I have heard by bus. If they had an accomplice, that could explain apparent uses of a car before Sept 11th.

Muhammad/Malvo's whereabouts on Aug 14 2002 are still unknown
The .22 Magnum should be easily matchable to any other shootings. Either Alabama has it, or the FBI.
here are the timeline portions of interest to you...

• July 20 2002 - A .22 caliber Magnum handgun was stolen at a gun show in El Paso, Texas. This gun is later confirmed used by Muhammad/Malvo (and/or a 3rd accomplice?) in the Montgomery AL killing on September 21.

• late July 2002 OR early August: - Muhammad and Malvo arrived by bus in Baton Rouge dirty, hungry and haggard. Muhammad appeared dangerously delusion according to his cousin - Anderson, whom he showed his duffel bag containing a rifle.

• August 2002? - Freeper TexKat remembers reading a carribean paper saying Muhammad was sighted in Antigua in August 2002. We haven't been able to find that source again (I'm still looking).

• Near Summer's end (I assume that means August) - Muhammad and Malvo were clearly remembered being seen for a 2nd time in Falls Church Virgina, in the (Home Depot / Michaels / Fabric Store) shopping complex.

• late august 2002 Muhammad and Malvo were seen in Tacoma Washington for three days at the end of August shopping for a certain car with a "big trunk",

• September 05 2002 , 10:30pm - Clinton MD - Paul LaRuffa, owner of Margellina Restaurant, is shot six times at close range, just after he got into his car in this Prince George's County parking lot. LaRuffa, was shot with a .22 caliber handgun but survived. Like two murders that occur later in AL and LA, this shooting occurred just after closing. The shooter escaped with $3000 from the restaurant, and the owner's Sony Vaio laptop computer. The restaurant is located near the home of Muhammad's ex-wife Mildred.

  This shooting is suspected to have been done by Muhhamad/Malvo. A .22 caliber handgun is later found at the site of a Montgomery AL murder that occurred Sept 21. A Sony Vaio laptop is also found in Muhammad's blue Caprice when they are arrested.
  Mr. LaRuffa very much wants to know if Muhhamad was found with HIS laptop, but police will not tell him.

• September 11 2002 - Three people appear involved in registering a newly purchased blue Chevrolet Caprice (former police car) in New Jersey, at the exact time and date of the WTC attack. Two of them register the car, while a third person phones in a bomb threat.
• September 14 2002 - The shooters try out their sniper car for the first time outside a Silver Spring, Maryland liquor store on a Saturday night. The victim is single-shot in the chest and survives, and the bullet is too fragmented to match with later shootings...

• September 15 2002 , - Clinton MD - Brandywine Liquors owner is shot in the stomach at closing time with a small caliber handgun and is robbed. Victim survives.

• September 21 2002 - Montgomery Alabama - Muhammad / Malvo and maybe a 3rd person enter a liquor store moments before closing. A clerk is shot in the back of the head, it glanced off and exited her cheek. She survives. (this was probably the low-power .22 bullet) The manager is shot in the back and dies. One of these were shot with the high-powered .223 Bushmaster. Police arrive and see Muhammad rummaging thru a purse, holding the handgun. No one saw the person holding the .223 Bushmaster. A third person assists their escape using the blue Chevrolet Caprice. The .22 caliber Magnum was dropped in a chase, and found under leaves in October.

• September 23 at 6:35 p.m. - Baton Rouge LA - Hong Im Ballenger, 45, was single-shot in the head after she closed her beauty shop and was getting into her car; She died instantly.
  The bullet has been positively ID'ed to the .223 Bushmaster rifle. Seen running from her car was a black man 130- to 140-pounds who stands about 5 feet 2 inches tall. The man got into a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice that had earlier been parked across the street from the shooting. Killers got $1000 from her purse that she was going to deposit in the bank. The Beauty Depot is at 3055 Florida Boulevard and Connell Street

[Future Useless Eater]

I also used mapquest to find the quickest route between Montgomery AL and DC. In my opinion, most VA crime done by Muhammad would be along this path.

But Bassett VA is about an hour away from this path.

DIRECTIONS DISTANCE
1: Start out going North on S UNION ST/AL-9. 0.05 miles
2: Merge onto I-85 N. 146.95 miles
3: Take the I-285-BYP E exit- exit number 68- toward MACON/AUGUSTA. 1.16 miles
4: Merge onto I-285 E/GA-407 E. 28.12 miles
5: Merge onto I-85 N via exit number 33 toward GREENVILLE. 274.21 miles
6: I-85 N becomes US-70 E/US-29 N. 4.11 miles
7: Take I-85 N toward THOMASVILLE/GREENSBORO. 214.89 miles
8: Merge onto I-95 N via the exit- on the left- toward RICHMOND. 27.60 miles
9: Merge onto I-64 W via exit number 79 toward POWHITE PKWY/CHARLOTTESVILLE. 9.24 miles
10: Merge onto I-295 S via exit number 177 toward WASHINGTON/NORFOLK. 8.49 miles
11: Take the I-95/US-1 exit- exit number 43- toward RICHMOND/WASHINGTON. 0.19 miles
12: Take the US-1 N ramp toward ASHLAND. 0.29 miles
13: Take the ramp toward I-95/RICHMOND/WASHINGTON. 0.33 miles
14: Merge onto I-95 N toward WASHINGTON. 86.12 miles
15: Merge onto I-395 N via exit number 170A- on the left- toward WASHINGTON. 10.37 miles
16: Merge onto US-1 N via the exit- on the left. 0.94 miles
17: Turn LEFT onto MADISON DR NW. 0.06 miles
18: Turn RIGHT onto 15TH ST NW. 0.14 miles
19: Turn LEFT onto CONSTITUTION AVE NW/US-50. 0.16 miles
20: Turn RIGHT onto 16TH ST NW. 0.03 miles
21: Turn LEFT onto ELLIPSE RD NW. 0.30 miles
Total Estimated Time: Total Distance:
13 hours, 14 minutes 813.75 miles

[iceskater]

I tend not to think the Short murders were part of Muhammad's jihad. The parents were shot inside the house at close range. From what I remember of what was reported, there were no signs of forced entry. Not Muhammad's usual style - although, who knows? Police are investigating a guy who skipped to Canada soon after the murders and are right now testing a bunch of his belongings for DNA. Also, it seems to me that Muhammad's jihad was centered near major highways (I-95) and the Short murders weren't anywhere near that area. But then again, this guy seems to have to gone all over the country.

I haven't heard about the other shootings you mentioned. Do you remember any other details?

[knighthawk]

LOL!